--- title: Donald Trump Picks Nikki Haley for United Nations Role description: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will accept the nomination to the post of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from Donald Trump canonical: https://time.com/4581308/donald-trump-nikki-haley-united-nations/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-23T12:37:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:55.543Z article:section: Politics og:title: Nikki Haley Will Serve as Trump's Ambassador to the United Nations og:description: Haley was a frequent critic of Trump's rhetoric during the campaign og:url: https://time.com/4581308/donald-trump-nikki-haley-united-nations/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02c1464ce902f953/6988af95cf40a8da5fc45ac9/nikki-haley-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: File photo of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley speaking at the National Press Club in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Nikki Haley Will Serve as Trump's Ambassador to the United Nations twitter:description: Haley was a frequent critic of Trump's rhetoric during the campaign twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02c1464ce902f953/6988af95cf40a8da5fc45ac9/nikki-haley-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nikki Haley Will Serve as Donald Trump's Ambassador to the United Nations > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=89fd19b5-370c-4829-8d83-6570bea8033e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 10 Questions for Nikki Haley [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions for Nikki Haley](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2KntnjXQ.m3u8) (6:14)  _Published 2012-04-04. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley talks about taxes, the 'Occupy' movement, and the secret bullet to solve Romney's women problem_ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Nov 23, 2016 12:37 PM UTC  South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley speaks at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 2, 2015. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley speaks at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 2, 2015. Kevin Lamarque—Reuters by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Nov 23, 2016 12:37 PM UTC South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will accept the nomination to the post of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from President-elect [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4580974/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-climate-change-new-york-times/?xid=homepage), according to two sources familiar with Trump’s presidential transition. Haley, the popular governor whose national stock rose after leading the response to the Charleston church shooting last year, is the first woman and the first Indian-American tapped by Trump for an administration post, and his first departure outside his inner circle of advisors. An official announcement is expected later Wednesday. Haley, 44, is midway through her second term as governor, where her state has seen widespread economic growth under her tenure. But her lack of traditional foreign policy experience is likely to draw scrutiny during Senate confirmation hearings. Haley is close with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, one of the leading contenders to be Trump’s Secretary of State. Haley endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and then Texas Sen. Ted Cruz during the contentious Republican primaries, and was a frequent critic of Trump’s rhetoric. She reluctantly announced her intent to vote for Trump just two weeks before Election Day, telling reporters, “This is no longer a choice for me on personalities because I’m not a fan of either one, what it is about is policy.” According to a transition source, Haley’s post will be of Cabinet-rank, a departure from the past two Republican administrations in which it was a sub-Cabinet-level post. Haley’s nomination must be confirmed by the Senate. ## Transcript Hi, I'm Belinda Luscombe. I'm an editor at large at TIME Magazine. Nikki Haley is the first female Governor of South Carolina. She is the youngest Governor in the land and only the second Indian- American to be Governor. She has a new book. Can't is not an Option and she's here with us today to answer ten questions. Governor Haley, welcome and thank you for coming. Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here. Now, in your book you say that by the time you were 12, you already knew the business tax code. Well you know it was one of those things where my parents needed a book keeper and they wanted us to learn the value of a dollar early and so they said she can do this. And so I was doing payroll taxes and all of that by the age of 12. In your book you write Government is the dead weight we all drag behind us. Now. If I were in government and working my behind off for the people I'd actually find that kind of confronting and insulting. But as it turns out you're in government. You know, the reason I ran was because I saw how hard it was to make a dollar and how easy it was for government to take it. And so what I constantly remember is what is the role of government. Government was intended to secure the rights and freedom of the people. It was not intended to be all things to all people. And I govern that way. And I continue to think that less government is better. When you were elected, one of the contributing factors to your success was the Tea Party. Do you see any similarity between the Tea Party and the people who are part of the Occupy movement? No, because the people of the Tea Party are not a party at all. They're Republicans, Democrats and Independents who are fed up with government, and they're using the power of their voice to actually say what they want, which is they want limited government, they want the reduction of all this debt that we have. The Occupy movement has no message. All they're saying is there's a 99 % and there's a 1 %. Isn't their message, sorry to interrupt you, but, we are fed up? We are fed up in the same way that the Tea Party are fed up. We are fed up with the institutions. We want also our liberties to be protected and not. I think you can say that their message is, we want. It's a we want movement. And to this day, nobody can tell you what the message of the occupiers were. Outside of the fact that their tents deserved to be on the state house grounds. So, let's talk a little bit about South Carolina. South Carolinian students score lower than the national average across all measures and yet, you turned back a $ 144 million of money that would have gone to schools. Do you not think it would have helped the students? To have that money more than at home instead of South Carolina taxing it. Well let's first go back to your question which is, one I think we constantly focus on improving education. That is why I increased the amount of recurring dollars that we have in our budget. Do I think we need take stimulus dollars that ties our hands and tells us that we have to educate our kids in South Carolina the same way we do. In California or in Texas or in Massachusetts, no. All of which have higher standards than South Carolina. But that's because of how they handle education. Not because they took stimulus dollars. We're looking at the kids of our state and we're saying what do they need. They need options. They need choices. They don't need strings. Attached on what programs and what Washington thinks is best for the kids of South Carolina. That's something that we and the parents in South Carolina need to do and, that's something that we will do. Like it or not, in America, religion does play a very important role in politics. Do you think it would have been any different for you if you ran as a Sikh? I don't, I don't think it would have been different. And the reason why I talk about my faith in the book the way I do is because I felt like a lot of people wanted me to discount the way I was raised. And that was something that I would never do. I am very proud of the way I was raised. I am very proud of the way my parents raised me. But I also know that being Christian is something that's very true to me and Michael. It's the one that speaks to us and that's what we chose to do. Now I want you to be completely honest even though you are not under oath here. Has the Romney campaign made any overtures at all to you about being a running mate? No, they have not. If they asked you, would you consider that? No, I would not. You do not want to be vice president? I would not. If you look in at everything I went through the campaign, I made a promise to the people of my state. And they took a chance on me in a time when they didn't have to. And I think that it's very important that I finish my job. Romney does have a woman problem. When stacked up against Obama, women massively prefer President Obama over Romney. How is Romney. Say he's the nominee. How is he gonna overcome that? Ann Romney. Ann Romney is the secret bullet to all of this, because anyone that has seen her, loves her. Anyone that knows her sees how bright she is, how smart she is. The experiences that she's gone through with MS and with cancer and how she's come out of it stronger than when she started. When they see Ann Romney and the struggle she's gone through, then they, we will see those women come back. Do women vote wives? Is that why women? No, women are so much smarter than that. Run for candidates? Women vote everything. You've got a great candidate in Mitt Romney. But you also have a great wife in Ann Romney. And once this all comes down. And you see President Obama and you see Mitt Romney. And you see their wives, I think you'll see women will, will easily change if they're. That's true, what you're saying is that Ann Romney is vastly superior to Michelle Obama. That's not what I said. That's not what I said. [ CROSSTALK ] But then how, I mean, I don't understand. If they don't, if the wife is what [ CROSSTALK ] They don't know Ann Romney yet. They've watched Michelle Obama for years. They don't know Ann Romney and I think. That again, these are the same challenges I went through, is that people wanna label you, they wanna say what things are. The truth is, you give them the opportunity to come out there and do that. I think that what you're doing is you're labelling them already and that's just not the case. In New York City, which you're visiting for a couple of days. A lot of our taxi drivers are Sikhs. If you get one, are you gonna give him a slightly bigger tip? [ LAUGH ] I give the same tip to everyone. Governor Haley, thanks very much. Thank you very much. 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